Author: Maria Sparagis

Maria Sparagis is President of DirectPayNet, where she's spent over 20 years helping businesses scale to six-, seven-, and eight-figure revenue through optimized payment processing. She works hands-on with business owners to solve merchant account challenges, reduce processing costs, and implement payment strategies that support real growth. Maria is a regular speaker at fintech conferences and writes about practical approaches that help businesses break through revenue plateaus.

Bad Business Models That Didn’t Survive 2024

A business man visibly upset looking at a graph that is on decline.

Remember when everyone and their cousin wanted to start a dropshipping business in 2020? I cringe thinking about all those “guru” courses promising overnight millions. But here’s the thing, e-commerce has done a complete 180 since those early pandemic days. And some of those “can’t-fail” business models have, well… failed spectacularly. The e-commerce landscape has […]

High Ticket Affiliate Marketing – Is It Worth It in 2025?

Light bulb on a black background wiht the words "AFFILIATE MARKETING" inside

High ticket affiliate marketing means promoting expensive products or services that usually cost $1,000 or more. You can earn commissions ranging from 10% to 50% for each sale. Instead of focusing on high-volume sales of low-cost items, this marketing approach emphasizes quality over quantity. This allows marketers to generate significant income from fewer transactions. The […]

Sleeping on Multiple Payment Processors is DESTROYING Your Business

A golden path with many branches and chess pawns scattered around.

Imagine with me: It’s two hours before Black Friday and your payment processor decides to take an unscheduled two-hour nap. Checkout attempts run through the roof, frustrated customers toss items aside, and you watch helplessly as $100,000 in potential sales goes down the drain. This nightmare scenario isn’t unique. Failed payments and processor downtime drain […]

A Complete Guide on How to Build Business Wealth

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You know that satisfying feeling when Netflix automatically charges your account each month? That’s sarcasm—it’s annoying, persistent, expected, and exactly what they should be doing. They never hesitate to pay themselves first – and neither should you. As a business owner, it’s time to adopt this same powerful mindset for building lasting wealth. Today, let’s […]

How to Increase Organic Leads, No Matter Your Business

Hand holding a piece of chalk against a chalk board that displays the word "LEADS" written five times with arrows pointing into a funnel labeled "BUSINESS" and dollar signs $$

Are you tired of chasing leads that fizzle out faster than a failed payment? Organic leads are pure gold. They’re pre-qualified, cost-effective, and convert better than any paid campaign I’ve ever run. Many businesses waste thousands on paid advertising while overlooking the sustainable power of organic lead generation. I’ve personally seen much success in finding […]